The most common type of pyrotechnic hand held flare is the highway signal flare, which is commonly called a "fusee". Another type of signalling device is the pyrotechnic smoke generating flare. These types of devices are relatively simple in that approximately one half of a hollow, rolled, paper or plastic tube is loaded with a burnable pyrotechnic composition or mixture and topped with a primer button. The burnable mixture is usually formulated to produce a bright flame or generate smoke. Covering the primer button is a striker cap whose outside surface is partially coated with a scratch material. This scratch material is in turn covered with a removable cover to protect the scratch material and seal it from adverse moisture or weather conditions. To ignite this type of flare the user must first remove the cover from the scratch material and remove the striker cap from the flare end containing the primer button. The end of the cover with the scratch material is then rubbed quickly across the primer button to ignite the flare mixture.
This type of igniter system has several major disadvantages. The first disadvantage is the fact that the user must hold the striker cap in the hand in order to rub the scratch material across the primer button. This places the hand very close to the ignition point. This arrangement causes the end of the flare to be directed towards the hand of the user at the time the ignition takes place.
The second disadvantage in this type of device is that the striker cap/primer button system relies on the chemical reaction between the materials in the scratch material and the primer button. This structure requires friction to effect the reaction necessary to ignite the primer button and thus, the flare. Under inclement weather conditions, such as, rain ,snow or marine use, the primer button and/or the scratch material can become subjected to moisture and must be dried in some way before they can be scrapped or scratched together. Although the primer button and scratch material are made to be water resistant, if their surfaces are soaked or saturated, the resulting decrease in available friction makes this ignition system unreliable.
As a result of these disadvantages, it is an object of the present invention to provide a pyrotechnic ignition system that allows the user to ignite a signal device when it is pointed in an outward direction and thus, aimed away from the user. In addition, it is also an object of this invention to provide an ignition system for a pyrotechnic device that will remain sealed and moisture proof until the moment of ignition.
Various other types of igniters for pyrotechnic devices have been attempted. Most of these are quite complex and utilize mechanical springs and levers for triggering the ignition. One of these is for a swimmer distress signal, wherein the ignition system can be operated with one hand. The entire device is housed in a sealed container which must be first removed. Removal of the container exposes a plunger which can be jammed against a solid object to, in turn, ignite the pyrotechnic device. This arrangement operates similar to a firing pin to initiate the combustion.
At the same time, there have been numerous igniters used for detonation of explosive devices. Some of these arrangements utilize a pull-wire having at the opposite end a crimped friction arrangement. This utilizes the draw friction obtained by pulling the wire, coated with a scratch material, through a small cup containing a primer mix. The friction between these two materials as the wire is drawn through it causes the ignition of the primer, which in turn, ignites the pyrotechnic material. This type of igniter has been used on detonators for detonating primacord, and other explosive mixtures.
In the past, pull-wire igniters have not been satisfactory for signaling or smoke generating devices because it was difficult to actually ignite the pyrotechnic burnable mixture of these devices with this type of pull friction igniter. The present invention, however has found a way to solve the problems which have been encountered with the earlier pull-wire igniter devices and now provides new and unobvious results that have not been known before.